TY - JOUR
T1 - Pathways from childhood intelligence and socio-economic status to late-life cardiovascular disease risk
AU - Hagger-Johnson, Gareth
AU - Mõttus, René
AU - Craig, Leone C A
AU - Starr, John M
AU - Deary, Ian J
PY - 2012/7
Y1 - 2012/7
N2 - Objective: C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase marker of systemic inflammation and considered an established risk marker for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in old age. Previous studies have suggested that low childhood intelligence, lower socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood or in later life, unhealthy behaviors, poor wellbeing, and high body mass index (BMI) are associated with inflammation. Life course models that simultaneously incorporate all these risk factors can explain how CVD risks accumulate over time, from childhood to old age. Methods: Using the data from 1,091 Scottish adults (Lothian Birth Cohort Study, 1936), a path model was constructed to predict CRP at age 70 from concurrent health behaviors, self-perceived quality of life, and BMI and adulthood SES as mediating variables, and from parental SES and childhood intelligence as distal risk factors. Results: A well-fitting path model (CFI = .92, SRMR = .05) demonstrated significant indirect effects from childhood intelligence and parental social class to inflammation via BMI, health behaviors and quality of life (all ps <.05). Low childhood intelligence, unhealthy behaviors, and higher BMI were also direct predictors of CRP. Conclusions: The life course model illustrated how CVD risks may accumulate over time, beginning in childhood and being both direct and transmitted indirectly via low adult SES, unhealthy behaviors, impaired quality of life, and high BMI. Knowledge on the childhood risk factors and their pathways to poor health can be used to identify high-risk individuals for more intensive and tailored behavior change interventions, and to develop effective public health policies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
AB - Objective: C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase marker of systemic inflammation and considered an established risk marker for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in old age. Previous studies have suggested that low childhood intelligence, lower socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood or in later life, unhealthy behaviors, poor wellbeing, and high body mass index (BMI) are associated with inflammation. Life course models that simultaneously incorporate all these risk factors can explain how CVD risks accumulate over time, from childhood to old age. Methods: Using the data from 1,091 Scottish adults (Lothian Birth Cohort Study, 1936), a path model was constructed to predict CRP at age 70 from concurrent health behaviors, self-perceived quality of life, and BMI and adulthood SES as mediating variables, and from parental SES and childhood intelligence as distal risk factors. Results: A well-fitting path model (CFI = .92, SRMR = .05) demonstrated significant indirect effects from childhood intelligence and parental social class to inflammation via BMI, health behaviors and quality of life (all ps <.05). Low childhood intelligence, unhealthy behaviors, and higher BMI were also direct predictors of CRP. Conclusions: The life course model illustrated how CVD risks may accumulate over time, beginning in childhood and being both direct and transmitted indirectly via low adult SES, unhealthy behaviors, impaired quality of life, and high BMI. Knowledge on the childhood risk factors and their pathways to poor health can be used to identify high-risk individuals for more intensive and tailored behavior change interventions, and to develop effective public health policies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
U2 - 10.1037/a0026775
DO - 10.1037/a0026775
M3 - Article
C2 - 22309883
SN - 0278-6133
VL - 31
SP - 403
EP - 412
JO - Health Psychology
JF - Health Psychology
IS - 4
ER -